Barcelona out to strengthen grip at BATE's expense

FC Barcelona will welcome FC BATE Borisov to the Camp Nou on matchday four looking to complete the double over their Group E rivals. 

• Ivan Rakitić struck twice to give Barcelona a 2-0 victory in Borisov last time out and Luis Enrique's group leaders will qualify for the last 16 with two games to spare if they beat BATE and AS Roma do not defeat Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the other fixture in the section.

Previous meetings
• Barcelona put nine goals past BATE when the clubs met in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• BATE played their home fixture in Minsk where Lionel Messi (2), Pedro Rodríguez and David Villa scored and Aleksandr Volodko contributed an own goal in a 5-0 Barcelona triumph. Back at the Camp Nou, Sergi Roberto hit his first UEFA Champions League goal and Pedro (2) and Martín Montoya also scored as Barça prevailed 4-0.

• The lineups in Spain on 6 December 2011 were:
Barcelona: Pinto, Montoya, Bartra, Fontàs, Maxwell, Thiago Alcántara, Dos Santos (Muniesa 58), Sergi Roberto (Riverola 79), Pedro, Rafinha (Deulofeu 70), Cuenca.
BATE: Gutor, Yurevich, Simić, Filipenko, Bordachev, Likhtarovich (Olekhnovich 67), Volodko, Baga, Pavlov (Gordeichuk 64), Kontsevoi, Bressan (Kežman 77).

Match background

Barcelona
• Barcelona are looking to qualify for the UEFA Champions League round of 16 for the 12th season running.

• Including their 2-1 victory over Bayer 04 Leverkusen on matchday two, Barcelona are on a run of seven straight home wins in the UEFA Champions League.

• Their last home loss in the competition was the 3-0 reverse against FC Bayern München in May 2013 – their only defeat in their last 34 UEFA Champions League home matches, of which 27 have been victories.

BATE
• BATE are still seeking their first win on the road in this season's UEFA Champions League. After two draws and one defeat in away games in the qualifying round, they lost 4-1 at Leverkusen in their opening group match.

• The Belarusian champions have won only one of 13 previous away fixtures in the UEFA Champions League group stage (three draws, nine losses).

• BATE have lost on all five of their previous visits to Spain.

Coach and player links
• Visiting coach Aleksandr Yermakovich was captain of the first BATE team to face Spanish opposition in a 4-1 defeat at Villarreal CF in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup first round first leg. Dmitri Likhtarovich and Maksim Zhavnerchik also played, with the latter scoring. Vitali Rodionov and Igor Stasevich joined that trio for the second leg – a 2-0 home defeat.

• Aleksandr Hleb spent 2008/09 with Barcelona, making 19 Liga appearances and winning the Spanish Liga. He made another nine appearances in their triumphant UEFA Champions League campaign but not the final.

• Hleb was a substitute in the Arsenal side beaten by Barcelona in the 2006 final. He appeared for VfB Stuttgart against the Blaugrana in the 2009/10 round of 16 (1-1 h, 0-4 a).

• Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba played in Spain's 1-0 win in Belarus at the Borisov-Arena in a UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier on 14 June. Hleb, Maksim Volodko and substitute Igor Stasevich appeared for the hosts.

• Busquets had previously scored in Spain's 3-0 home win against Belarus in November 2014. Nikolai Signevich appeared as a substitute in that fixture in Huelva.

• Rakitić scored the only goal in Croatia's 1-0 home win over Belarus in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying.

Match facts

Barcelona
• Luis Suárez struck the opener in Saturday's 2-0 win against Getafe CF, his eighth goal in his last seven outings. Neymar, with his sixth in five games, sealed the win.

• Andrés Iniesta, out with a hamstring problem since the game with Leverkusen on matchday two, returned to action against Getafe.

• Marc-André ter Stegen has conceded 17 goals in nine appearances this season – one more than he let in during 21 outings last term. The Catalan giants have kept back-to-back clean sheets, though, with Jordi Masip and Claudio Bravo in goal.

• Barcelona have conceded four goals on three occasions in 2015/16: against RC Celta de Vigo on 23 September, Athletic Club in the Spanish Super Cup and Sevilla FC in the UEFA Super Cup.

• The away side have scored the first goal in the last three games at the Camp Nou, although Barcelona still won all of them.

• A year to the day since he made his Barcelona debut, Luis Suárez scored a hat-trick as Enrique's team came from behind to beat SD Eibar 3-1 on 25 October.

• Barcelona drew 0-0 at third-tier CF Villanovense in the first leg of their Copa del Rey round of 32 tie on 28 October. Gerard Gumbau made his first start for the club, while Wilfrid Kaptoum and Aitor Cantalapiedra were given their debuts. The return leg is on 2 December.

• Douglas played 90 minutes against Villanovense – his first start since 3 December 2014 – but was ruled out for eight weeks the following day with a foot injury.

• Rafinha, injured on matchday one, was signed off for six months after undergoing knee surgery on 22 September. He agreed a new contract until June 2020 on Monday.

• Messi sustained a knee injury against UD Las Palmas on 26 September and is expected to be unavailable for seven to eight weeks.

BATE
• Nemanja Milunović is a booking away from a ban.

• Mikhail Gordeichuk ended a run of 12 games without a goal for BATE in Saturday's 1-0 win at FC Dinamo Minsk.

• BATE won their tenth successive Belarusian title on 16 October by winning 2-0 at FC Vitebsk.

• Sergei Chernik has kept a Vysshaya Liga best 16 clean sheets in 24 appearances this season. BATE did not concede a goal until their 11th fixture of the 2015 campaign.

• BATE are 28 away league games unbeaten. Their last defeat on the road was a 2-1 loss to FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk on 29 March 2014.